December 07, 2013

A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.

First the Jags are described as "resurgent", then as "the hottest team in the league". They now have twice as many wins as the Texans. Disorientation is setting in.

I am becoming increasing drawn to their new helmets and unis (it has taken awhile), and I always feel better when teams in fancy gear can back up the snazz with their efforts on the field. Nothing is worse than watching comic book action heroes get humiliated.

I am becoming increasing drawn to their new helmets and unis (it has taken awhile) ...

I could only hate the two-tone helmet and NBA halftime jazz dancer uniforms for one game. By the second, I thought they were awesome. It's a look nobody else has (don't say it), and the personality of the whole uniform changes based on which way a player is facing. In a huddle the Jags look like two different teams.

The Jags could win another three games. They get Buffalo and Tennessee at home while both are struggling and finish on the road against an Indy team that will have clinched the division and might have nothing to play for.

While my emotional side feels that Orpik deserved what he got, my rational side just cannot condone Thornton's actions. He'll get a lengthy suspension, and that will be that. In the meantime, what about Neal's hit on Marchand? Not only is that a case of targeting the head, it is also the lowest of cheap shots to knee the head of a player lying on the ice. Ericsson is out with his second concussion of the season while Orpik was "conscious and alert" at the hospital, was released to travel with the team, and may very well not miss any time at all. Many are saying that Orpik's hit on Ericsson was "borderline", but a careful look at the video shows Orpik raising his shoulder just enough to get the head. Had this been called perhaps the resultant mess would have been avoided.

Now we find out that another Bruin will miss significant time due to an injury sustained against Pittsburgh. Chris Kelly will be out for several weeks with a broken fibula suffered as the result of a slash by Pascal Dupuis. Pardon my Boston fandom, but it seems that Pittsburgh is connected to an awful lot of injuries to others due to "questionable" tactics. But when one gets too close to "our boy Crosby" or any of the other Pitt luminaries, the outcry from Penguins to the league offices is loud and long. I know I'll be yelled at for this, but it would be nice if Pitt would clean it up a bit.